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Nanosolar ships 'cheap' solar cells
Author: Gareth HalfacreePublished: 19th December 2007
We're 99% certain that Nanosolar's CEO is more than just a creepy floating head. Probably.
Using a method developed by the firm five years ago which involves printing the cells in a thin film on a back panel, Nanosolar believes that it has finally cracked the main problem preventing commercial exploitation of solar power: cost. The new panels will ship for around 50p ($1 for our American friends) per watt, which compares pretty favourably to traditional energy generation via coal.
The first panel off the production line has been taken aside as a show piece, and the third was donated to the Tech Museum in San Jose. The second panel, however, is being used as a rather odd promotional item: the company is flogging it via online tat bazaar eBay.
If you've a few thousand burning a hole in your pocket, you can get bidding here. Don't expect a fully-working panel though - it's being sold “as-is”, which on eBay usually means “broken.” Not exactly the best advert for Nanosolar's new technology.
The first proper commercial run (hopefully in fully-working form) is due to be installed in a planned megawatt solar farm in Germany.
Hoping to get your house off the grid, or do you think solar power is still too expensive and unreliable for full-scale deployment? Perhaps you're just hoping to get a cheap solar charger for your laptop? Let us know via the forums.
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